Lloyd making most of second chance

Thursday

Even when he had to twist his body backward like Gumby or outjump a defender.

“He makes great plays on the ball,” Orton said. “Any time you throw one up to him, he’s very aggressive to go get it. He plays a lot bigger than he really is.”

Lloyd finished with six receptions for 124 yards in Sunday’s 27-24 overtime loss to Tampa Bay, the most yards by a Bears’ receiver in Chicago’s last 66 games.

The 6-foot, 190-pound Lloyd laughed when he heard Orton said he plays bigger than his size.

“When I was in college, people were like, ‘Whoa. I thought you were like 6-6 or something. People have always said that,” Lloyd said

“It’s the way I always play. I don’t want the ball to ever come down on me. The percentages are higher of me making the play by jumping up and catching with my hands instead of letting it fall into my body. I just jump up there and get it, no matter where it is.”

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner, Lloyd’s old college coach at Illinois, said that’s how Lloyd became second in Illini history in both yards (2,583) and touchdowns (21) receiving.

“The first day I saw him as a freshman at college, he could just naturally change speeds and get his body in position to adjust to the deep ball,” Turner said. “He’s got great body control. He’s a great leaper; he was a 7-foot high jumper in high school. So he can get up and go get the ball. But a lot of guys can jump; he can jump and he has an excellent sense of timing.”

By attacking the ball, Lloyd puts defensive backs even more on the defensive.

“They are in a bad position,” Lloyd said. “They are looking at me and then looking back for the ball. I have a leg up on them already by being able to see the ball when it’s thrown. It’s tougher for them to adjust.”

Lloyd has had to make a tough adjustment himself. He came into the NFL under the radar as a fourth-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers and had a modest, but promising, rookie season, catching 14 passes for 212 yards. Then, in 28 starts the next two seasons, he combined for 1,298 yards and 11 TDs receiving. But whispers sprouted that he wasn’t a team player and he was traded to Washington for third- and fourth-round draft picks.

The bad-apple whispers grew into shouts in Washington, where he had only 365 yards in 12 starts in 2006 and 14 yards receiving in eight games last year.

Lloyd was granted a second NFL life when Turner talked the Bears into signing Lloyd to a one-year contract this winter after the Redskins cut him.

“I heard some of the stories,” Turner said. “I’m sure everyone in this building heard some stories about him, because they were all out there. But I knew him since he was 17 years old, knew he came from a good family and knew he was a good kid. And I knew he had great talent. We all felt we had nothing to lose.”

That’s because the Bears let Lloyd know he had to get his act together.

“If he didn’t, then he knew he wouldn’t be here,” Turner said.

Lloyd has been a good teammate and a greatly needed deep threat for a team that has only four 1,000-yard receiving seasons in the last 35 years. The Bears’ second-leading wide receiver, Rashied Davis, has barely one-fourth as many receiving yards (58) as Lloyd (216) after three games.

“It’s really good to have the opportunities,” Lloyd said. “I never felt once that I couldn’t help a team win ballgames and be a productive member of a football team. That’s all I want to do. It’s all about the football to me.”

Matt Trowbridge can be reached at (815) 987-1383 or mtrowbridge@rrstar.com.

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